Moto2 Silverstone: Results, Quotes, Points

Jules Cluzel (Forward Racing, Suter) won his first Grand Prix victory at Silverstone this afternoon, winning a thrilling four-man contest in the Moto2 race.

The Frenchman beat Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Moto2, Moriwaki) by just five hundredths of a second, with Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Team, Suter) and Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team, Suter) a few metres behind. The top four were covered by less than two tenths of a second.

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Once again, the Honda-powered Moto2 series retained its reputation for unpredictability with the three winners of the first four races not even in contention for a podium finish here. Losail winner Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP, Suter) finished sixth, Jerez and Le Mans victor Toni Elias (Gresini Racing Moto2, Moriwaki) tenth – after making up four places in the last three laps – and Mugello winner Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up) 12th.

Most of the race was dominated by Cluzel, team-mate Claudio Corti (Forward Racing, Suter) and Simon. The trio had a two second gap on the rest of the pack until Luthi caught them at two-thirds distance, with local hero Redding right behind him. Luthi’s charge had taken him from 17th to fourth in ten laps.

The last six laps were edge-of-the-seat entertainment, with Luthi working hard to pick off the three men in front of him. The former 125 World Champion finally hit the front on lap 16 of 18 and opened up a small lead while Corti tumbled out at Vale corner with one lap to go. On the final lap Cluzel ate into Luthi’s advantage, so that when the Swiss rider almost lost the rear into Vale, Cluzel pounced and took the lead.

Cluzel, who had crashed out of the two previous races, was delighted with his first GP victory, which moves him into seventh in the Moto2 points chase. Elias retains first place in the championship, 15 points ahead of Tomizawa, with Luthi a further seven points behind.

Today’s five-way second group battle was won by Alex Debon (Aeroport de Castello-Ajo, FTR) who crossed the line a fraction ahead of Tomizawa, Mike Di Meglio (Mapfre Aspar Team, Suter) and Xavier Simeon (Holiday Gym G22, Moriwaki). The group – which was covered by half a second at the flag – lost one rider on the last lap when Yonny Hernandez (Blusens-STX, BQR) crashed out.

MOTO2 RIDER QUOTES

Jules Cluzel (Forward Racing, Suter) says: “I’m very happy with this win, especially after my mistakes at the last two races where I was fast but crashed out. Here I decided to stay on the bike and work for the race. I tried to be clever, rather than worry out being absolute fastest. You don’t need to be in front all the time, but when you are, you can push, but being first isn’t everything, it’s important to get points. I felt so good on the bike in the race, so I have to thank my team because we made some changes in warm-up and they didn’t feel so good. They worked hard this morning and in the race I was able to push hard.”

Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Moto2, Moriwaki) says: “Things got a bit tight at the first corner – two riders in front of me touched, so I had to go wide and that lost me some positions. I worked hard to get back to the front. I was lucky the front group stayed together because once I had got clear of the other riders I had a clear track in front of me, so I was able to put in some good lap times and catch the group. The bike was good, so I could fight. When I was in front on the last lap I didn’t know if the others were close enough to use my slipstream, so I pushed hard to stay ahead. In the end I pushed too hard and had a big moment at Vale. Cluzel got past me and after that there was no chance for me to get past again.”

Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Team, Suter) says: “I’m happy with this podium, especially because we had a bad weekend at Mugello. This weekend we have been up front all the time. In the race I got a good start and was able to get into the lead after a few laps and push hard. But it was impossible to break away from Cluzel and Corti. In the final part I was waiting for the last lap. I had a plan to get back into first place but there was no chance. Anyway, I’m happy with this podium and the points. The good thing is that after the problems we had at Mugello that the bike felt really nice here.”

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